The labyrinth of forms and busy work ARE THE POINT. The government figures most people won’t jump through all the hoops and will simply die before they have to pay a penny.
There has to be more to this story. The writer refers twice to his father’s “Pension.” Unless he spent the required amount of time for retirement, or had service related disabilities I know of no other “pension” available to veterans. We are all qualified to receive the favorable drug program through the VA, which I do, and if qualified to use the VA as primary care, with the required co-payments. As an example. I spent 12 years in the Air Force on active duty, then voluntarily separated. I received not one dime for that decision, which I willingly made. Nor will I ever.
I would like to know more about this situation.